Frankenstein

Foo Fighters star Dave Grohl has been named this year's (15) Record Store Day Ambassador. The rocker confirmed the news in a post on the Record Store Day website, insisting he has always been a huge fan of indie record shops.
He writes, "1975's K-Tel's Blockbuster 20 Original Hits by the Original Stars featuring Alice Cooper, War, Kool and the Gang, Average White Band and many more, bought at a small record shop in my suburban Virginia neighborhood, it was this record that changed my life and made me want to become a musician.
"The second that I heard Edgar Winter's Frankenstein kick in, I was hooked. My life had been changed forever. This was the first day of the rest of my life."
Grohl claims his local independent record stores in and around Springfield, Virginia were "magical, mysterious places that I spent all of my spare time (and money) in, finding what was to eventually become the soundtrack of my life."
And it appears he has passed on his love of indie stores to his daughters, adding he loves watching "the reverence they have as they handle their Beatles vinyl".
This year's Record Store Day will be held in America on 18 April (15).

As obsessive readers and fans of dismissing quality movies as inferior to their literary counterparts, it's important for us to know which books will head to the big screen ahead of time. How else will we know how Wild Reese will be, or what is going to happen to Peeta? Be reasonable. We've decided to use our research for the good of society and share the adaptations coming soon that we are most excited for.
1. The Spook's Apprentice - Joseph Delaney (Seventh Son)
Thomas Ward (Ben Barnes) is the seventh son of the seventh son, which gives him the ability to see things that others cannot: ghosts, ghasts, boggarts, and the like. He becomes an apprentice to John Gregory, the Spook (Jeff Bridges). Julianne Moore is set to play Mother Malkin, one of the most sinister witches who uses blood magic, luring young runaway women into care before sucking their blood to maintain her youth, who was then imprisoned by the Spook. Kit Harington and Djimon Hounsou also star.
2. Fifty Shades of Grey - E.L. James
Dakota Johnson and Jamie Dornan, in case you somehow didn't know, are stepping into the roles of Anastasia Steele and Christian Grey for the adaptation of the incredibly successful erotic novel. Steele, a literature student, interviews Grey as a favor to her roommate, but quickly becomes entranced by this brilliant and handsome man who is unable to resist her. He admits his desire, but on his own terms; this is a man with a need to control everything. This is also probably going to be the movie with a bunch of heavy-breathing sweaty middle-aged women trying to control themselves in the theater. You've been warned.
3. In the Heart of the Sea - Nathaniel Philbrick
The last time Ron Howard and Chris Hemsworth teamed up, they brought us one of the best films of 2013, Rush. Now, they're at it again (along with Cillian Murphy and Benjamin Walker) with this story of a whaleship attacked by one angry whale, leaving the crew shipwrecked and stranded for 90 days, thousands of miles from land. The true story inspired a little book by Herman Melville (played in the movie by our favorite, Ben Whishaw) entitled Moby-Dick.
4. The Price of Salt - Patricia Highsmith (Carol)
W. W. Norton &amp; Company
Patricia Highsmith, author of successful novels-turned-movies like Strangers on a Train and The Talented Mr. Ripley (we're choosing to ignore the recent The Two Faces of January here), wrote The Price of Salt, which will be released as 'Carol.' The novel itself, controversial for its lesbian content and unprecedented gay happy ending, is said to have inspired Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita. The film stars Cate Blanchett, Rooney Mara, and Sarah Paulson, with Far From Heaven and I'm Not There director Todd Haynes helming.
5. Dark Places - Gillian Flynn
Shaye Areheart Books
Gone Girl author brings us yet another chilling thriller. A young girl is the sole survivor of a massacre that leaves both of her sisters and her mother dead in an apparent Satanic cult ritual. She testifies against her brother, but 25 years later, she begins to investigate the actual events. Charlize Theron, Chloë Grace Moretz, Nicholas Hoult, and Christina Hendricks star.
6. A Walk in the Woods - Bill Bryson
HarperCollins Publishers
Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants director Ken Kwapis is set to direct Bryson's memoir, starring Robert Redford and Nick Nolte. The hilarious book describes Bryson's attempt to walk the Appalachian Trail with his friend Stephen Katz. Emma Thompson and Parks and Recreation's Nick Offerman will also star.
7. Insurgent - Veronica Roth
As conflict between the factions and their ideologies grows, a war looms for Divergent's post-apocalyptic Chicago. In this sequel, we're still following Shailene Woodley and Theo James' Tris and Four as they try to understand the reasons for Erudite's insurrection and obtain information the Abnegation are trying to protect. Kate Winslet, Zoë Kravitz, Ansel Elgort, and Miles Teller return in their supporting roles, and are joined by some all-star names: Naomi Watts, Octavia Spencer, and Suki Waterhouse.
8. Serena - Ron Rash
The dynamic duo of mega-nominated movies Silver Linings Playbook and American Hustle are back at it! Bradley Cooper plays a man trying to maintain his timber empire during the Depression, while Jennifer Lawrence plays his wife who discovers she can't have children. For some reason, we're a little terrified of JLaw in this movie from the trailer.
9. Silence - Shusako Endo
Taplinger Publishing Company
This 1966 novel about a Jesuit missionary sent to 17th century Japan where he endures persecution is set to be adapted by Martin Scorsese. It will also have an all star cast of Andrew Garfield, Liam Neeson, Ken Watanabe, and Adam Driver.
10. The Longest Ride - Nicholas Sparks
The producers of The Fault in Our Stars, the author of The Notebook, and the hottest Hollywood son around, this movie already has us in love with it. Scott Eastwood and Britt Robertson play two lovers and there's a rodeo or something; we don't really know, we were just thinking about how much this movie will make us cry. Time to read the book.
11. Far From the Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
The Hunt director Thomas Vinterberg tackles Thomas Hardy's novel. Carey Mulligan stars as Bathsheba Everdene, a woman who has too many men in love with her and of course rejects them all until she falls for one. Three men, played by Michael Sheen, Matthias Schoenaerts (Rust and Bone), and Tom Sturridge (On The Road), all after this woman: who will she end up with? We actually just read the plot description and had everything spoiled and somehow still gasped and cried at those three paragraphs. Why didn't we know about this book before?!
12. Paper Towns - John Green
Dutton Books
The Fault in Our Stars author John Green's next book to be adapted by the same team who adapted TFIOS (Scott Neustadter &amp; Michael H. Weber). Margo and her adventures are legendary at her high school, and Quentin ("Q") has always loved her for it. Margo climbs through his window and demands he take an all night road trip of revenge, but when she goes missing the next day, Q realizes she's left clues for him and promptly hits the road again in search of her. Cara Delevingne will play Margo and TFIOS' Nat Wolff will play Q.
13. The Revenant: A Novel of Revenge - Michael Punke
Carroll &amp; Graf Publishers
Academy Award-nominated Alejandro González Iñárritu (Birdman, 21 Grams, Biutiful) is set to direct Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hardy in this adaptation. Partially based on the life of fur trapper Hugh Glass. Leo will play Glass, who is mauled by a bear, then later robbed and left for dead by his companions. He survives and sets out for revenge against those same men.
14. The Secret Scripture - Sebastian Barry
Faber and Faber
A one-hundred-year-old woman, Roseanne McNulty, in a mental hospital for about 50 years decides to retrace her history. As the hospital faces demolition and he must choose which of his patients should be transferred and which should rejoin the community, Dr. Grene also tries to discover her history. What they find is very different, though there are some consistencies. Vanessa Redgrave and Rooney Mara will play Roseanne McNulty, Eric Bana will play Grene, with Theo James also starring.
15. Frankenstein - Mary Shelley
Penguin Classics
An oft-adapted novel, Mary Shelley's classic is to be turned into yet another film, this time directed by Paul McGuigan (Lucky Number Slevin, Push). The updated version, titled Victor Frankenstein, will be told from the perspective of the doctor's assistant, Igor. The film will explain how the doctor became the man who created the legendary monster. Daniel Radcliffe will play Igor and James McAvoy will play Victor Frankenstein.
16. The Martian - Andy Weir
Crown Publishing Group
Described as Cast Away meets Apollo 13, the novel follows an astronaut stranded on Mars, fighting to survive (which also sounds mildly like Gravity to us, no?). Ridley Scott is set to direct a pretty stellar (no pun intended) cast here: Matt Damon, Jessica Chastain, Jeff Daniels, Kristen Wiig, Donald Glover, Kate Mara, and Chiwetel Ejiofor. This sounds like a great movie already, but we'll have to wait until November to see it.
17. The Jungle Book - Rudyard Kipling
Macmillan Publishers
Walt Disney Pictures is working on this live-action/CGI mash-up of the classic book, directed by Jon Favreau (Iron Man, Chef), with a mind-bogglingly incredible cast. Bill Murray, Idris Elba, Ben Kingsley, Christopher Walken, Scarlett Johansson, Lupita Nyong'o, and Breaking Bad's Giancarlo Esposito will provide voices, while newcomer Neel Sethi will play Mowgli.

FX
Fans of American Horror Story have lamented its current incarnation, Freak Show. As last night's episode ("Orphans") showed Pepper's sister at Briarcliff Asylum and chills of terror shot through our whole body at the mere sound of yet-to-be-possessed Sister Mary Eunice's voice, we realized just how far the show has fallen. Something seems amiss this time around. It doesn't have the shock value Murder House had, the creepiness of Asylum, or the campy sass of Coven. We're not exactly sure what it has going for it, but we know what it could use.
1. It needs a mystery to solve.
sassydoctah.tumblr.com
Murder House had...well, everything. Asylum had the mystery of Bloody Face. Coven had the biggest mystery of all: who would be the next Supreme? So far, Freak Show's only mystery is "where is this going?"
2. It needs something that's actually scary.
GIPHY
The Rubber Man in Murder House was adequately creepy (okay, maybe really creepy). Some of Coven's witchcraft was mildly scary, as were the zombies that were summoned from the grave. Nothing holds a candle though to the terrifying Asylum season and its Nazi scientists, demonic nuns, and serial killers wearing masks of human flesh. Freak Show started really strong, its clown one of the most horrifying villains we've seen on TV in a long time...until he turned out to be a really sad character who left the show after only a few episodes (thus setting a trend for the rest of the season - "shocking" stories that end up leaving the viewer more depressed than anything).
3. It could use a lot more of Jessica Lange's signature sass.
GIPHY
Something about the Freak Show makes us feel sad, particularly with Lange's character. Her desire to be famous, her inability to control the show like she wants, and her struggles to connect with reality just make us sad. Where's the ruthlessness of Constance Langdon? Or the colded-heartedness of Sister Jude? Or the relentless snark of Fiona Goode?
4. It needs more swoonworthy moments from Evan Peters (or maybe that's just us?).
GIPHY
He played a mass murderer/ghost, an asylum resident, and a Frankenstein-esque zombie guard dog, yet every season he made us love him. This season's Lobster Boy role is okay, but we've yet to feel weak in the knees like we normally do.
5. Less shock just for the sake of shock.
techtimes.com
Don't get us wrong, we love American Horror Story in all its campiness; we love how often the show features something that only Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk could get away with. The last three episodes have each featured a beheading. There have been several baths of blood. We saw several people slaughtered and floating in a swimming pool filled with blood. We saw a baby drown in a bathtub of blood (are we sensing a trend here?). We saw a man try to hang himself. There's even been a tar and feathering scene. Through all of this, we haven't batted an eye. It's not working, we aren't scared, we aren't entertained. We're waiting for these sorts of scenes to diminish, so we can get to an actual plot, to something mildly scary.
6. Most importantly, less depressing storylines.
GIPHY
We love how the writers are intentionally humanizing the "freaks," making us see them as people, and making us fall in love with them in the process. Normally, we love how the show is able to dispose of characters however they see fit, since next season brings a new slate. We didn't mind when we lost Patti LaBelle, or Matt Bomer (maybe our eyes did), or even our usual favorite, Frances Conroy. We were admittedly even a little relieved by the death of Kathy Bates' Ethel (mostly because of that accent). But we were crushed by the death of Ma Petite and even the death of Meep. Even the terrifying clown's story brought a tear to our eye. After Pepper's heartbreaking episode, we don't know how much more we can take. The show has had its sad moments before -- Murder House's Adelaide's death, Asylum's Sister Jude's fate -- but this season has taken its toll on our heartstrings without any of the fun of its predecessors.

Twilight star Xavier Samuel is set to play Victor Frankenstein in a modern take on author Mary Shelley's monster tale. The actor has been cast as the product of a scientific experiment to create a child for his desperate parents, played by Danny Huston and Carrie-Anne Moss.
Immortal Beloved director Bernard Rose's Frankenstein will be set in modern-day Los Angeles.
It isn't the only Frankenstein movie currently in development - James McAvoy will portray the monster creator Victor Von Frankenstein in next year's (15) Frankenstein, which will also feature Daniel Radcliffe as the mad scientist's assistant, Igor.

Getty Images/Ethan Miller
Josh Hutcherson has spoken out to defend his Hunger Games co-star Jennifer Lawrence after she was involved in a recent nude photo leak scandal.
Naked shots of the actress were part of a haul of celebrity nudes nabbed by an anonymous Internet hacker and offered to top media outlets. Lawrence's representative confirmed the pictures were for real and threatened legal action against the person or persons responsible for the privacy breach.
Now her Hunger Games co-star Hutcherson, who was involved in his own nude photo scandal last year (13), has offered up his thoughts about the leak, insisting "it's not fair". The actor tells ET Canada, "I haven't talked to her but I just think all that stuff is so ridiculous. We're people too, man, we just want to live, we want to be normal people, it's not fair. "It's something you obviously don't want to happen to you and it's really unfortunate that it happens... I hate the way the world sort of views those sorts of issues. It's really, truly not fair."
He adds, "We are actors, we didn't get into this because we wanted scandal. We want to live our lives and be actors... People say, 'Well you chose to be an actor, you are going to have to deal with this kind of thing...' Well no, I started (acting) when I was nine years old, she started when she was, like, 12. We didn't choose to have public scandal, we chose to become artists of acting and I love making movies; this is what I can do, this is what I am good at."

Funnyman Mel Brooks has left his mark on Hollywood Boulevard by adding a fake finger to his hand and footprint ceremony on Monday (08Sep14). The actor/director made no mention of his prank as he kneeled down and pressed his hands into the cement outside Grauman's Chinese Theatre, but he revealed all during an appearance on U.S. chat show Conan on Monday night - and showed off his fake sixth digit on his right hand.
He said, "I wanted to do something just a little different, so I got another finger."
He added, "Somebody's gonna come in from Des Moines, Iowa and say, 'Mother... Does Mel Brooks have six fingers?'"
The ceremony was held to mark the 40th anniversary of his film Young Frankenstein.

Actress Chloe Grace Moretz was forced to use a musical body double for scenes in her new film If I Stay, because she was unable to achieve the technicality of playing the cello. The Carrie star spent seven months training to play the instrument and though she became adept as an amateur cellist, she had difficulties imitating a professional player's movements.
She tells U.S. breakfast show Good Morning America, "I tried really hard to get the technicality down, but in seven months you can't really learn such an intricate instrument. So really what I had to learn was the emotionality (sic) and passion that comes with being a cellist and how much you have to give your soul and this entire being to this instrument when you play it.
"The technicality came from some Frankenstein (technology), putting my head on another girl's body, who was an amazing cellist."

American rapper Vic Mensa has told how he had a near-fatal accident attempting to sneak into the Lollapalooza music festival. Mensa performed at the event on Saturday (02Aug14) in the hip-hop star's hometown of Chicago, Illinois, but in the past he has been forced to find less glamorous ways to ensure he caught performances at the iconic festival.
Speaking with Billboard backstage at the 2014 event, Mensa recalled how he was electrocuted several years ago while trying to enter the festival without a ticket after finding the route he used the day before no longer available.
He says, "I was trying to get in and they had upped security from the day before - it was just impossible to get in like I got in the day before. I was trying to do something crazy, climbing down the train structure... over a bridge. And I touched a transformer on my arm... My arm just shot out in front of me and it was strange... it was really surreal. I was seeing myself from an overhead view, like, and I just saw my arm shoot out like Frankenstein and I fell like 30 feet. Then I got up, which was weird too, cos (sic) I definitely could have broken my neck."

WENN
Maleficent star Elle Fanning has been cast as Frankenstein creator Mary Shelley in Saudi Arabian director Haifaa Al-Mansour's new Hollywood movie.
Romantic drama A Storm in the Stars will chronicle the young Mary Wollstonecraft's love affair with poet Percy Shelley.
Announcing Fanning's casting on Wednesday (30Jul14), producer Amy Baer tells The Hollywood Reporter, "Elle is amazingly smart and talented and very much relates to Mary as a young woman. She is going to do something extraordinary in this role that will transition her from a compelling young adult to a formidable leading lady."
At 16, Fanning is the perfect age to play pre-marriage Shelley, who was 17 when she met and fell in love with the man who was to become her husband.